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47-438: In 1934, Sidney Kingsley wrote a play about a group of children growing up on the streets of New York City. Fourteen children were hired to play various roles in the play, including Billy Halop (Tommy), Bobby Jordan (Angel), Huntz Hall (Dippy), Charles Duncan (Spit), Bernard Punsly (Milty), Gabriel Dell (T.B.), and Leo and David Gorcey (Second Avenue Boys). Duncan left for a role in another play before opening night, and

94-489: A 50-percent interest in his 23 productions, so Allied Artists bought the rights from Grippo in December 1957. The transaction was front-page news in the trade, and the amount was reported as "more than $ 500,000." Preparing the series for television required making new negatives for 16mm film prints, and then making a complete set of 48 new prints for each local market. With so many films in the series, and so many TV stations buying

141-459: A backlog of Bowery Boys titles all along, reminding exhibitors that older titles were still available from local exchanges. After the series concluded with In the Money , Allied Artists began a formal reissue program, continuing to release the films seasonally. The first of the reissues was Blues Busters (1950), which returned to theaters in 1958. Theaters continued to play Bowery Boys features well into

188-538: A complete set, this took time. The Bowery Boys finally entered TV syndication in 1960. The films became a staple for independent stations across America, often used to fill the early-afternoon time slots on weekends, much as the same films played at matinées in theaters. There was still a demand for the Bowery Boys comedies in theaters; they were useful fillers on double-feature programs and kiddie matinées, and drive-ins used them extensively. Allied Artists had been offering

235-451: A drinking problem eventually ate away at his show business career. In the 1970s, Halop enjoyed a career resurgence playing the character Bert Munson, cab driver and close friend to Archie Bunker on the television series All in the Family . He appeared in 10 episodes from 1971 to 1975, including the famed "Sammy's Visit" episode from the second season in 1972 starring Sammy Davis Jr. Halop

282-602: A gang leader in a series of films that featured the Dead End Kids , later billed the Little Tough Guys . In his later years, he claimed that he was paid more than the other Dead End actors, which had contributed to bad feelings in the group, and that he was tired of the name "Dead End Kids". He played with James Cagney in Angels with Dirty Faces (1938). He played the bully Harry Flashman , speaking with an English accent, in

329-433: A more established formula than the prior incarnations of the team, with the gang usually hanging out at Louie's Sweet Shop (at 3rd and Canal St.) until an adventure came along. The original main characters were Terrence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney ( Leo Gorcey ), Horace Debussy "Sach" Jones ( Huntz Hall ), Bobby ( Bobby Jordan ), Whitey ( Billy Benedict ), and Chuck ( David Gorcey , sometimes billed as David Condon). In 1948 Bobby

376-459: A predictable and successful attraction. The series ended suddenly, after Allied Artists decided that the films would be even more valuable on television. Producer Ben Schwalb moved on to other projects at Allied Artists, but Huntz Hall still had two films left on his contract. Former film editor and now staff producer Richard Heermance was assigned to oversee these last two films, Up in Smoke and In

423-552: A registered nurse at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California . His fourth marriage, to a nurse coworker, whose name has not been publicized, was quickly annulled after she allegedly attacked him. He later moved back in with his second wife Barbara, but they chose not to remarry. Following two heart attacks , Halop underwent open-heart surgery in the fall of 1971. He died of a heart attack on November 9, 1976, in Hollywood at

470-523: A short film, Swingtime in the Movies , and were referred to as that name. This was all in vain, though, as the name never caught on, and they remained the Dead End Kids. At Warner Bros., the Dead End Kids made six films, including Angels with Dirty Faces , with some of the top actors in Hollywood, including James Cagney , Humphrey Bogart , John Garfield , Pat O'Brien , and Ronald Reagan . The last one

517-539: The East Side Kids , who had been the subject of films since 1940. The group originated as the Dead End Kids , who originally appeared in the 1937 film Dead End . The Dead End Kids originally appeared in the 1935 play Dead End, dramatized by Sidney Kingsley . When Samuel Goldwyn turned the play into a 1937 film , he recruited the original "kids" from the play— Leo Gorcey , Huntz Hall , Bobby Jordan , Gabriel Dell , Billy Halop , and Bernard Punsly —to appear in

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564-549: The 1940 film Tom Brown's School Days opposite Cedric Hardwicke and Freddie Bartholomew . After serving in World War II in the US Army Signal Corps, he found that he had grown too old to be effective in the roles that had brought him fame. At one point, he was reduced to starring in a cheap East Side Kids imitation at PRC studios, Gas House Kids (1946), at age 26. Diminishing film work, marital difficulties, and

611-469: The 1956 season, so Gorcey was replaced by Stanley Clements , a former tough-teen actor who had been in a few East Side Kids movies. Clements, as "Duke Coveleskie," adapted to the series easily and completed the three films, which now starred "Huntz Hall and The Bowery Boys." With Louie absent, the gang's new hangout was a rooming house, where they helped landlady Kate Kelly (played first by Doris Kemper, then by Queenie Smith ). The new Hall-Clements partnership

658-471: The 1960s. The Bowery Boys (48 titles) was third-longest feature-film series of American origin in motion-picture history (behind the Charles Starrett westerns at 131 titles, and Hopalong Cassidy at 66). The final Bowery Boys film, In the Money , was released in 1958. Only Huntz Hall and David Gorcey had remained with the series since 1946. In 2012, all 48 Bowery Boys films were made available as

705-562: The Little Tough Guys. The original Dead End Kids were now working at several studios, so the East Side Kids were made at the same time that Universal was making the "Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys" series. A total of 22 East Side Kids films were made, with the final one, Come Out Fighting , released in 1945. In 1945, when East Side Kids producer Katzman refused to grant Leo Gorcey's request to double his weekly salary, Gorcey quit

752-484: The Money , and William Beaudine — who had been the Bowery Boys' most frequent director — came back to conclude the series. After filming ended in September 1957, the studio demolished the long-standing "Bowery street" on the backlot, replacing it with a western street. Allied Artists moved ahead with its plans to syndicate The Bowery Boys to television. Jan Grippo, who had produced the series from 1946 to 1951, still held

799-463: The Money . During the series Hall and Dell did a nightclub act together. Gorcey and Hall reteamed on the film Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar then finally, in The Phynx . The various teams that began life as "The Dead End Kids" made 89 films and three serials for four different studios during their 21-year-long film career. The team was awarded a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame that can be found at

846-653: The Quigh Theatre in New York, N.Y. and another in 2005 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. In 2022, a musical adaptation of the play was produced as a concept album available for digital download. The adaptation was written by Neil Fishman (music), Harvey Edelman (lyrics) , and Peter C. Palame (book) and published by Sammy Smile Music LLC . Billy Halop William Halop (February 11, 1920 – November 9, 1976)

893-600: The Three Stooges manner using many of the Stooges' gags, and the stories became more juvenile. The new approach literally paid off: " The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters was the best moneymaker of all of them," Bernds told historian Ted Okuda in 1987. "Actually, every Bowery Boys picture made money. Even if it was a bad one, it didn't lose. The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters stood out above the others in terms of profit." Bernds left

940-476: The age of 56. He is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California . The Bowery Boys The Bowery Boys are fictional New York City characters, portrayed by a company of New York actors, who were the subject of 48 feature films released by Monogram Pictures and its successor Allied Artists Pictures Corporation from 1946 through 1958. The Bowery Boys were successors of

987-622: The corner of La Brea and Hollywood. One notable aspect of the group's history is their transition from stark drama to comedy. When they began, in Dead End and their other early films, their characters were serious, gritty, genuinely menacing young hoodlums. But, by the height of their career, their movies were comedies, with the Kids depicted as low-class but basically harmless, likable teens – comic caricatures of their former selves. The original play has had two revivals. A 1978 adaptation played at

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1034-414: The emotions they saw in the play, Goldwyn and Wyler had six of the original Kids (Halop, Jordan, Hall, Punsly, Dell, and Leo Gorcey) brought from New York City to Hollywood for the film. The Kids were all signed to two-year contracts, allowing for possible future films, and began working on the 1937 United Artists ' film, Dead End . The actual name of the gang of boys in Dead End is written in chalk on

1081-518: The gang. The final film in Universal's series, Keep 'Em Slugging , was released in 1943, with Bobby Jordan replacing erstwhile ringleader Billy Halop . Independent producer Sam Katzman cashed in on the Dead End Kids' popularity by producing a low-budget imitation, East Side Kids (1940) with six juvenile actors, including Hally Chester who had appeared with individual Dead Enders in various films, and former Our Gang kid Donald Haines . The film

1128-497: The leading role. Producer Sam Katzman , releasing through Monogram Pictures , began his own tough-kid series, beginning with the 1940 film East Side Kids . As was the case at Universal, none of the original Dead End Kids was available, so Katzman hired six juveniles to fill the roles. For the second film, Katzman engaged Bobby Jordan and Leo Gorcey, along with David Gorcey and Our Gang alumni "Sunshine" Sammy Morrison and Donald Haines . In 1941 Huntz Hall and Gabriel Dell joined

1175-402: The mid-1950s the studio would hire only one or two veteran featured players per film ( Eric Blore , Lyle Talbot , Addison Richards , Barton MacLane , Fritz Feld , Mary Beth Hughes , Byron Foulger , Paul Cavanagh , etc.) and fill out the cast with lesser-known actors. Gorcey had been drinking heavily during the filming of Dig That Uranium (1955), according to Edward Bernds. After filming

1222-418: The original gang members were not available, so Universal filled the roles with other Hollywood juveniles (including future series perennials David Gorcey and Billy Benedict ). Eventually all of the original Dead End Kids except Leo Gorcey joined the Universal series, which became known as "The Dead End Kids and the Little Tough Guys." The final Universal film was Keep 'Em Slugging (1943) with Bobby Jordan in

1269-526: The participation of the other gang members. He left the series after being injured in an elevator accident. Gabriel Dell returned in the fourth entry, Spook Busters (1946), as "Gabe Moreno," a former member of the gang just out of the Navy with a French war bride in tow. He remained (minus spouse) for the next 16 features. Gabe was a convenient "utility" character, frequently changing jobs (attorney, policeman, song plugger, reporter, television personality) to suit

1316-459: The same character steadily. During the series's freshman year, the gang was Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, Billy Benedict, and David Gorcey. Jordan left the series in 1947, followed by Dell in 1950, Benedict in 1951, and Leo Gorcey in 1956. Only Huntz Hall and David Gorcey remained from the original gang, with Stanley Clements stepping into the role of Hall's sidekick. In all, 48 Bowery Boys films were made, ending with 1958's In

1363-414: The same humor-laced crime drama of the previous series, but they gradually shifted to situation comedy (western comedy, prison comedy, military comedy, college comedy, hillbilly comedy, etc.). In 1953 a new producer, Ben Schwalb, hired director Edward Bernds and writer Elwood Ullman , both closely associated with The Three Stooges . The situation-comedy content immediately gave way to all-out slapstick, in

1410-423: The same roles in the film. This led to the making of six other films that shared the collective title "The Dead End Kids". In 1938, Universal launched its own tough-kid series, " Little Tough Guys ." Gradually, Universal recruited most of the original Dead End Kids, so the series ultimately featured " The Dead End Kids and Little Tough Guys ." Universal made twelve feature films, and three 12-chapter serials with

1457-416: The scenes: "He was even worse on Crashing Las Vegas than he was on Dig That Uranium , and I believe Ben [Schwalb] went to [studio executive] Walter Mirisch and said, 'It won't work; he's impossible and if we're going to continue this series we've got to do it with somebody else'... No, Leo was fired -- he drank too much and he couldn't do his work anymore." The studio owed exhibitors three more films for

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1504-501: The series after Dig That Uranium (1956), although an unused Bernds-Ullman script was filmed later as Looking for Danger (1957). The budgets of the series had been lowering gradually. Productions that had formerly been filmed in 10 or 11 days (a speedy schedule to begin with) were now being filmed in five or six days. Cheaper films meant cheaper talent: the Monogram films had featured impressive casts of "name" supporting actors, but by

1551-404: The series, now known as "The East Side Kids", followed in 1943 by Billy Benedict. A total of 22 East Side Kids films were made, ending with Come Out Fighting in 1945. In 1946, Bobby Jordan, Huntz Hall, and Leo Gorcey, working with Jordan's agent Jan Grippo, revamped The East Side Kids, renaming them " The Bowery Boys ". These films followed a more established formula, with each member playing

1598-429: The series, which then ended immediately. Bobby Jordan then suggested a meeting with his agent, Jan Grippo. Grippo, Gorcey, and Hall formed Jan Grippo Productions, revamped the format, and rechristened the series The Bowery Boys. (The earlier films' credits appear as "Leo Gorcey and The Bowery Boys".) Gorcey, who owned 40 percent of the company, starred in, produced, and contributed to the scripts. The new series followed

1645-477: The son of Fred and Lucy Kent, in "Home Sweet Home". While studying at the Professional Children's School in New York, he was cast as Tommy Gordon in the 1935 Broadway production of Sidney Kingsley 's Dead End and traveled to Hollywood with the rest of the Dead End Kids when Samuel Goldwyn produced a film version of the play in 1937. Usually called Tommy in the films, he had the recurring role of

1692-422: The story "pure shit", and Huntz Hall , who became visibly upset when asked about the incident and called the allegation "a fucking lie!") At a subsequent meeting with Allied Artists executives, Gorcey demanded an increase on the 40% interest he held in the series. This was denied, and after a heated exchange, he stormed off the studio lot. Gorcey claimed to have quit, but Edward Bernds offered an opinion from behind

1739-630: The story at hand—and the limited casting budget. Dell often acted as a bridge between the real world and the Bowery gang he would summon to assist him. He reprised one of his East Side Kids roles in Hard Boiled Mahoney (1947), playing a myopic nerd with thick glasses, ascot, and cap. His final appearance was in Blues Busters in 1950, generally regarded as one of the funniest in the series. The early films such as In Fast Company (1946) flirted with

1786-442: The team at one time or another. Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison, "Scruno" in the East Side Kids films, declined an invitation to rejoin the gang. (He later stated in an interview that he "didn't like the setup," possibly referring to the idea of Gorcey and Hall being in the forefront, and being paid much more than the other members.) Bobby Jordan was also unhappy with the direction of the series, which favored Gorcey and Hall and limited

1833-605: The wall shown throughout the movie. It reads: "East 53rd Place Gang Members Only". During production, the boys ran wild around the studio, destroying property, including a truck that they crashed into a sound stage. Goldwyn chose not to use them again and sold their contract to Warner Bros. Warner Bros. had initially attempted to rename them the "Crime School Kids" through advertisements for their first two films produced there, starting with Crime School (1937), to disassociate them from their previous studio's film, and promote their own. In 1938, they made their only color appearance in

1880-584: Was an American actor. Halop was born to Benjamin Cohen Halop and Lucille Elizabeth Halop on February 11, 1920. Halop came from a theatrical family; his mother was a dancer, and his sister, Florence Halop , was an actress who worked on radio and in television. Additionally, he had a much younger brother, Joel Tucker Halop (1934-2006). In 1933, he was given the lead as Bobby Benson in the popular new radio show The H-Bar-O Rangers . From 1934 to 1937, he starred in one of his first radio series, playing Dick Kent,

1927-408: Was completed, Bernard Gorcey was killed in an automobile accident, devastating his son Leo whose drinking became even heavier. It visibly affected his performance in the following film, Crashing Las Vegas (1956). During filming, he allegedly became violently unhinged, trashing the set and destroying every prop in sight (though this was vehemently denied in the 1980s by both David Gorcey , who called

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1974-420: Was in 1939, when they were released from their contracts owing to more antics on the studio lot. In 1938, Universal Pictures made an imitation Dead End Kids drama, Little Tough Guy . Leo Gorcey and Bobby Jordan remained under contract to Warners, so Universal hired the remaining four Dead End Kids. The film proved successful enough for Universal to launch a "Little Tough Guys" series in 1939, but by this time

2021-472: Was married at least four times, according to interviews given near the end of his life. Helen Tupper was his first wife from 1946 until their divorce in 1947. On Valentine's Day, 1948, he married Barbara Hoon. Their marriage lasted ten years until their divorce in 1958. His third marriage in 1960 to Suzanne Roe, who had multiple sclerosis, lasted until their divorce in 1967. The nursing skills he learned while taking care of his third wife led him to steady work as

2068-411: Was released by Monogram Pictures. When Bobby Jordan and Leo Gorcey became available in 1940, Katzman signed them and "The East Side Kids" became a Monogram series. Katzman also signed Leo's brother David Gorcey and "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison , another Our Gang alumnus. Original Dead End Kids Huntz Hall and Gabriel Dell followed Jordan and Gorcey to Monogram, as did freelance juvenile Billy Benedict of

2115-415: Was replaced by Butch Williams, with former East Side Kids Bennie Bartlett and Buddy Gorman alternating in the role. The proprietor of the malt shop where they hung out was the panicky Louie Dumbrowski ( Bernard Gorcey , Leo's and David's real-life father). Like the previous incarnations of the team, the members went through a number of changes over the course of the series. Thirteen actors were members of

2162-542: Was replaced by Leo, his understudy. Leo had been a plumber's assistant and was originally recruited by his brother David to audition for the play. The play opened at the Belasco Theatre on October 28, 1935, and ran for two years, totaling 684 performances. Samuel Goldwyn and director William Wyler saw the play and decided to turn it into a film. They paid $ 165,000 for the rights to the film and began auditioning actors in Los Angeles. Failing to find actors who could convey

2209-445: Was successful enough to be renewed for the 1957 season. Four more films were made, with Eddie LeRoy joining the cast as bespectacled "Blinky." The gang returned to the sweet shop, now known as Clancy's Cafe, with its similarly put-upon proprietor Mike Clancy (played first by Percy Helton , then by Dick Elliott ). The studio had been releasing the Bowery Boys comedies to theaters every three months since 1946, and by 1957 they had become

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